Woman resorts to baseball bat after patty not available
NEW YORK >> A woman who couldn’t get a beef patty at a favorite New York eatery used a baseball bat in protest.
On Saturday, police released surveillance video of the woman in action in the Bronx — smashing a restaurant’s windows after learning the eatery had run out of her favorite food.
Police say the woman at the Back Home restaurant in the Morrisania neighborhood came in on Jan. 15 and ordered a patty. She was told they’d run out, and she got upset.
Authorities say she left and came back to the Jamaican restaurant with the bat. The video shows a woman bashing in two windows.
Education-business center would feature Monticello replica
SOMERS, CONN. >> A co-founder of the Friendly’s restaurant chain and his wife are hoping to turn a replica of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello home into the centerpiece of a new educational and business center in Connecticut.
S. Prestley Blake, who is 104 years old, and his wife, Helen, had the nearly 10,000-square-foot replica of the Virginia mansion built in 2014 in Somers. It sold for $2.1 million at a 2016 auction.
The Journal Inquirer reports the Blakes have submitted plans to the town for “The Prestley and Helen Blake Center for Business, Ethics and Entrepreneurship.” The proposal calls for Michiganbased Hillsdale College to buy back the Monticello replica and operate the center as a satellite campus.
Helen Blake says the replica mansion’s owner supports the plans, which must be approved by town officials.
Workers carefully remove remains of collapsed Genoa bridge
GENOA, ITALY >> Work is underway to remove what is left of the Morandi Bridge, the key highway span in the Italian city of Genoa that collapsed in August, killing 43 people.
Engineers spent hours Saturday lowering a 36-meter (118-foot) long chunk of road, the start of demolition efforts to clear the way for a new bridge to be built. The delicate, time-consuming operation was necessary given the unstable remains of the bridge that crosses a populated area.
The cause of the Aug. 14 collapse still hasn’t been determined, but prosecutors are investigating poor maintenance or design flaws in the 51-year-old structure.
Hometown architect Renzo Piano has designed a new bridge that resembles the bow of a ship, in homage to Genoa’s seafaring traditions. It also features 43 lamps to commemorate those who died.
U.K. scraps Brexit ferry deal with firm that has no ships
LONDON >> The British government has canceled a contract to ship goods to the country after Brexit with a company that turned out to have no boats and no experience running a ferry service.
Authorities had been criticized for the 13.8 million pound ($18 million) deal with Seaborne Freight, part of plans to keep trade flowing if Britain leaves the European Union without a divorce deal.
The Department for Transport said Saturday that it had ended the contract because an Irish firm that was backing Seaborne Freight had withdrawn its support.
Britain is due to leave the European Union on March 29. U.K. businesses fear a “no-deal” Brexit will cause economic chaos by ripping up the trade rulebook and imposing tariffs, customs checks and other barriers between the U.K. and the EU.